- The Bobby Hart in this songwriting duo is different from songwriter Bob Hart (1900-1993).
Tommy Boyce (born
Sidney Thomas Boyce, September 29, 1939 — November 23, 1994) and
Bobby Hart (born
Robert Luke Harshman, February 19, 1939,
PhoenixPhoenix is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the fifth most populous city in the United States...
,
ArizonaThe State of Arizona is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix. The second largest city is Tucson, followed in size by the four Phoenix metropolitan area cities of Mesa, Glendale, Chandler, and Scottsdale.Arizona was the 48th and...
) were a prolific
songwritingA songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics, as well as the musical composition or melody to songs. One who writes only lyrics is a lyricist, while one who writes only music is a composer.-History and background of songwriters:...
duo, best known for the songs they wrote for
The MonkeesThe Monkees were a pop rock quartet assembled by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider in Los Angeles in 1966 for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968...
.
Hart's father was a church
ministerIn Christian churches, a minister is someone who is authorized by a church or religious organization to perform clergy functions such as teaching of beliefs; performing services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidance to the community.-Minister:The minister...
. Hart served in the
ArmyAn army An army An army (from Latin armata "armed (things)" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based Military of a nation. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
after leaving
high schoolHigh school is the name used in some parts of the world, particularly in Scotland, Northern America and Oceania, to describe an institution that provides all or part of secondary education...
, and on discharge travelled to
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
seeking a career as a singer. Boyce and Hart met in 1959. Boyce had already achieved songwriting success, having written "Be My Guest" for
Fats DominoAntoine Dominique "Fats" Domino is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter.-Imperial Records era :...
. In 1960, Boyce played guitar on Hart's single "Girl In The Window," which flopped, but marked the first time he used the name Bobby Hart, since his manager shortened it to fit the label.
Their partnership made a breakthrough with a song recorded by
Chubby CheckerChubby Checker is an American singer-songwriter best known for popularizing the The Twist with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard's R&B hit "The Twist"...
, "Lazy Elsie Molly", in 1964. They went on to write hits for Jay & the Americans ("Come a Little Bit Closer"), Paul Revere and the Raiders ("
(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" Steppin' Stone" is a song by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. It was first recorded by Paul Revere & the Raiders and appeared on their 1966 album Midnight Ride...
") and
The LeavesThe Leaves were an American garage band formed in California in 1963. They are best known for their version of the song "Hey Joe", which was a hit in 1966. Theirs is the earliest release of this song, which became a rock standard.-History:...
("Words"). The latter two songs provided the Monkees with hit B-sides in 1967. The duo also wrote the theme song to the daytime soap
Days of Our LivesDays of our Lives is an American soap opera which has aired nearly every weekday since November 8, 1965 on the NBC network in the United States, and has since been syndicated to many countries around the world. It also broadcasts on SOAPnet weeknights at 11PM ET/PT...
. At one point in this period, Hart also co-wrote "Hurt So BadHurt So Bad was a 1964 Pop/R&B hit single by Little Anthony & The Imperials, taken from their album, Goin out of My Head. It was the follow-up to that album's smash-hit title song, and like that song, also became a Billboard Top 10 Pop smash, reaching #10, and was a Top 10 R&B hit as well, reaching...
" for Little Anthony & the ImperialsLittle Anthony & The Imperials is a rhythm and blues/soul/doo-wop vocal group from New York, first active in the 1950s. Lead singer Jerome Anthony "Little Anthony" Gourdine was noted for his high-pitched falsetto voice influenced by Jimmy Scott. The group was announced as inductees to the Rock and...
with Teddy RandazzoTeddy Randazzo was a NYC born pop songwriter who composed 1960s hit songs such as "Goin' Out of My Head," "It's Gonna Take a Miracle," and "Hurt So Bad."-Early years:...
and his regular songwriting partner, Bobby Weinstein.
In late 1965, they wrote, produced and performed the soundtrack to the pilotA television pilot is a test episode of an intended television series. It is an early step in the development of a television series, much like pilot lights or pilot studies serve as precursors to the start of larger activity, or pilot holes prepare the way for larger holes. Networks use pilots to...
of The Monkees, including singing lead vocals (which were later replaced, once the show was cast). In 1966, despite some conflicts with
Don KirshnerDon Kirshner , known as The Man With the Golden Ear, is an American song publisher and rock producer who is best known for managing songwriting talent as well as successful pop groups such as The Monkees and The Archies....
, who was the show's musical supervisor, they were retained in substantially the same role. It was Boyce and Hart who wrote, produced and recorded (with the help of their band, the
Candy Store ProphetsThe Candy Store Prophets were a 1960s rock band, headed by singer-songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. Their lineup included Boyce and Gerry McGee on guitar, Hart on keyboards, Larry Taylor on bass guitar and Billy Lewis on drums....
) backing tracks for a large portion of the first season of The Monkees, and the band's accompanying debut album. The Monkees themselves re-recorded their vocals over Boyce and Hart's when it came time to release the songs, including both "
(Theme from) The Monkees" The Monkees" is a 1966 popular song, written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart with creative direction from Neil Diamond as the theme song for the TV series The Monkees and recorded by The Monkees. It later appeared on their album The Monkees...
" and "
Last Train to Clarksville"Last Train to Clarksville" is the debut and number-one single by The Monkees, included on the group's 1966 self-titled album, that was released one month later....
," the latter of which was a huge hit.
When the Monkees began to record and produce their own material for their third album, and Boyce and Hart were ousted as producers, they were not sure how the band felt about them personally. Attending a Monkees show, though, they were spotted in the audience, and singer
Davy JonesDavy Jones is an English pop singer-songwriter and actor best known as a member of The Monkees.-Career:...
invited them up onstage, to introduce them: "These are the fellows who wrote our great hits — Tommy and Bobby!" Every original Monkees album (except for the Head
soundtrack) included songs by the duo.
Boyce and Hart also embarked on a successful career as recording artists in their own right, releasing three albums on A&M RecordsA&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group which operates through the Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
: Test Patterns
, I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight
, and It's All Happening on the Inside
(released in Canada as Which One's Boyce and Which One's Hart?
). The duo also had several hit singles; the most well-known of these were "Out and AboutOut and About is an album by Cherish the Ladies that was released in 1993 on the Green Linnet label.-Track listing:# "The Old Favorite/The Flogging Reel/Leave My Way/The Kerryman" – 4:20# "Spoon River" – 4:44...
," "I Wonder What She's Doing TonightI Wonder What She's Doing Tonight was a song written, produced and sung by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart in 1967. The song was arranged by Artie Butler. It was a hit in 1968, reaching #7 on the Cash Box magazine chart and #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart...
," "Alice LongAlice Long was written, produced & sung by Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart in 1968. The song was arranged by Artie Butler and reached #16 on the Cash Box magazine chart and #27 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart....
" and "I'll Blow You A Kiss in the Wind", which they performed on the television show BewitchedBewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York , Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead and David White. It is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban housewife...
. They also appeared on other TVTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
shows including The Flying Nun----The Flying Nun is an American sitcom produced by Screen Gems for ABC based on the book The Fifteenth Pelican, by Tere Rios. The sitcom ran for three seasons, and produced 82 color episodes from 1967 until 1970.-Series background:...
and I Dream of JeannieI Dream of Jeannie is a 1960s American sitcom with a fantasy premise. The show starred Barbara Eden as a 2000-year-old female genie, and Larry Hagman as an astronaut who becomes her master, with whom she falls in love and eventually marries...
("Jeannie the Hip Hippie").
They also were involved with producing music for motion pictures for Columbia Pictures, including two Matt HelmMatt Helm is a fictional character created by author Donald Hamilton. He is a U.S. government counter-agent—a man whose primary job is to kill or nullify enemy agents—not a spy or secret agent in the ordinary sense of the term as used in spy thrillers.-The character and the series:The...
movies (The AmbushersThe Ambushers is the title of a novel by Donald Hamilton first published in 1963, continuing the exploits of assassin Matt Helm.-Plot introduction:Matt Helm conducts a by-the-book assassination in the Central American nation of Costa Verde...
and Murderer's RowMurderers' Row is the title of a 1966 American comedy-spy-fi motion picture starring Dean Martin and very loosely based upon the Matt Helm spy novel Murderers' Row by Donald Hamilton, which was published in 1962....
), Winter A-Go-Go
and Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows
.
In 1971 a sitcom named Getting TogetherGetting Together was a musical situation comedy, which aired on the ABC television network during 1971 and 1972. It starred Bobby Sherman and Wes Stern as Bobby Conway and Lionel Poindexter, a songwriting duo...
appeared on
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
-TV, starring
Bobby ShermanRobert Cabot "Bobby" Sherman, Jr. is an American singer and actor, who became a popular teen idol in the late 1960s and early 1970s.Sherman was born in Santa Monica, California...
and Wes Stern as two struggling songwriters, who were friends of
The Partridge FamilyThe Partridge Family was an American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children who embarked on a music career. The family lived in San Pueblo, a small fictional town in Northern California...
(and were introduced on their show). The series was reportedly based loosely on Boyce and Hart's partnership. At this point, they decided to work on various solo projects.
In the mid-1970s, Boyce and Hart reunited with
Davy JonesDavy Jones is an English pop singer-songwriter and actor best known as a member of The Monkees.-Career:...
and
Micky DolenzGeorge Michael Dolenz, Jr. is an American actor, musician, television director and theatre director; he is best known for his role as the drummer/vocalist in the 1960s made-for-television band The Monkees.-Early life:...
, performing the songs Boyce and Hart had written for The Monkees a decade before. Legally prohibited from using the Monkees name, they called themselves
Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & HartDolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart was a 1976 album released by the group of the same name, which consisted of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. Micky and Davy had been members of '60s pop group/band The Monkees while Tommy & Bobby had written many of the groups biggest hits such as...
. The group toured amusement parks and other venues throughout
AmericaThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
,
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and other locations from July 4th, 1975 to early 1977, also becoming the first American band to play in
ThailandThe Kingdom of Thailand is an independent country that lies in the heart of Southeast Asia.It is bordered to the north by Laos and Burma, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and Burma...
. Signed to
Capitol RecordsCapitol Records is a major United States-based record label owned by EMI and located in Los Angeles and New York City as part of Capitol Music Group...
by
Al CouryAl Coury was a 1970s vice-president of American record label Capitol Records. Beginning his career in movie theaters, he joined Capitol's sales staff in his early twenties, moved later to promotion, and stayed with the label for seventeen years....
, the group released an album of new material in 1976. (A live album was also recorded in Japan, but was not released in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
until the mid-1990s.) The tours coincided with the syndication of the Monkees TV series, and helped boost sales of Arista's The Monkees Greatest Hits
.
Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart also starred in their own TV special called The Great Golden Hits of the Monkees Show, which appeared in syndication. It featured a medley of other Boyce and Hart songs, as well as the songs they had produced for the Monkees. Strangely, it did not include any songs from their new album.
In 1979 Boyce formed his own band, called
The Tommy Band, and toured the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
as support to Andrew Matheson (ex-Hollywood Brats). The tour was largely ignored by the public especially in
MiddlesbroughMiddlesbrough is a town in the Tees Valley conurbation of North East England and sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire. It is the largest and most populous settlement within the Borough of Middlesbrough, which encompasses the town and several outlying villages which have become...
where reportedly just one person paid to watch the show. Boyce and Hart reunited during the 1980s resurgence of the Monkees, and performed live.
After a stint living in the UK, Tommy Boyce returned to live in
Nashville, TennesseeNashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is the second most populous city in the state after Memphis. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state...
, where he struggled with depression, and later suffered a brain
aneurysmAn aneurysm or aneurism , is a localized, blood-filled dilation of a blood vessel caused by disease or weakening of the vessel wall....
. In 1994, Boyce died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Hart was nominated for an
OscarThe Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers. The formal ceremony at which the awards are presented is...
in 1983 for his song "Over You", written for the film
Tender MerciesTender Mercies is a 1983 American drama film directed by Bruce Beresford. The screenplay by Horton Foote focuses on Mac Sledge, a recovering alcoholic country music singer who seeks to turn his life around through his relationship with a young widow and her son in rural Texas...
.
According to the Rolling StoneRolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J. Gleason.The magazine was named after the 1948 Muddy Waters song of the same...
Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll
, Boyce and Hart wrote more than 300 songs, and sold more than 42 million records as a partnership.
Discography
Albums:
Test Patterns
(A&M LP 126 (Mono)/SP 4126 (Stereo), 1967)
I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight
(A&M LP 143/SP 4143, 1968)
It's All Happening On The Inside
* (A&M SP 4162, 1969)
Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart
(Capitol ST-11513, 1976)
Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart - Live in Japan
(Capitol/Toshiba-EMI ECS-91018, 1981)
16 Rarities
(SG Records, 1981 -- This is bootleg of B-sides and oddities)
The Anthology
(A&M Records Australia/Polygram 525 193-2, 1995)
Album Notes
It's All Happening On The Inside
was released in Canada as Which One's Boyce & Which One's Hart?
The Novells, a Happening, Inc. album
released in 1968 titled That Did It!
Singles:
- "Out and About"/"My Little Chickadee"
- "Sometimes She's A Little Girl"/"Love Every Day"
- "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight?"/"The Ambushers"
- "Goodbye Baby (I Don't Want To See You Cry)"/"Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows"
- "Alice Long (You're Still My Favorite Girlfriend)"/"P.O. Box 9847"
- "We're All Going To The Same Place"/"Six+Six"
- "Maybe Somebody Heard"/"It's All Happening On The Inside"
- "L.U.V. (Let Us Vote)"/"I Wanna Be Free"
- "I'll Blow You A Kiss In The Wind"/"Smilin'" (Aquarian/Bell Records)
- "I Remember The Feeling"/"You and I" (as DJB&H on Capitol Records)
All singles released by A&M Records except where indicated
Singles notes:
- "The Ambushers", "P.O. Box 9847", "Six+Six", "L.U.V. (Let Us Vote)", "I'll Blow You A Kiss In The Wind" and "Smilin'" never appeared on an original album.
- "L.U.V. (Let Us Vote)" was the official campaign song for the
Let Us Vote
movement to lower the voting age to 18.
"P.O. Box 9847" and "I Wanna Be Free" were originally released by the Monkees.
"You and I" (DJB&H) was later re-recorded and released in 1996 by the Monkees.
"(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" was covered by the Sex PistolsThe Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They are responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
, and by hardcore punk band Minor ThreatMinor Threat was an American hardcore punk band that formed in Washington, D.C. in 1980 and disbanded in 1983. Despite being so short-lived, the band had a strong influence on the hardcore punk music scene....
on their album In My Eyes.
External links